CalL San Jose Giants

Giants Rally in Ninth Inning, Win Wild 9â€Â"8 Game over Ports

Published on June 14, 2021 under California League (CalL)
San Jose Giants News Release


The Giants closed out their six-game series in Stockton on Sunday afternoon with a thrilling come-from-behind 9-8 victory over the host Ports. San Jose (24-12) staged a dramatic four-run top of the ninth inning rally to secure the win and take five out of six games in the series.

Down to their final strike on Sunday, Luis Toribio hit a game-tying two-RBI double for the Giants before Casey Schmitt's bases loaded walk put San Jose in front. Clay Helvey, who had allowed four runs in the bottom of the eighth as Stockton rallied to take a late lead, then slammed the door in the bottom of the ninth inning to seal the victory.

The Giants led for the majority of Sunday's wild affair as Toribio opened the scoring with a solo homer to deep right center in the top of the first. The home run was Toribio's second of the season.

A pair of Ports triples in the bottom of the first off of San Jose starter Prelander Berroa though would give Stockton a 2-1 lead. Brayan Buelvas led off the frame with a triple to deep center and scored the tying run on a wild pitch. Then with one down, Lawrence Butler hit a triple and scored the go-ahead run on T.J. Schofield-Sam's two-out single.

The Giants moved back in front with a four-run top of the third as consecutive walks to Jimmy Glowenke and Toribio started the rally. With one out, Marco Luciano singled up the middle to score Glowenke to tie the game before Toribio later scored on a passed ball for a 3-2 San Jose lead. Then with two outs and two runners on, Abdiel Layer stepped to the plate and hammered a two-RBI triple off the center field wall to make it 5-2 Giants.

The San Jose bullpen would maintain the lead into the late innings before Stockton rallied. Justin Crump, who relieved Berroa to start the bottom of the second, tossed two scoreless innings with four strikeouts. Ty Weber then breezed through the next three innings yielding just two singles with no walks and four strikeouts.

With the score still at 5-2, Brooks Crawford entered in the bottom of the seventh, but immediately ran into trouble. Consecutive walks to Danny Bautista and Kevin Richards - Crawford's first two walks of the season - put runners on first and second with none out. A one-out single from Sahid Valenzuela then loaded the bases. After Crawford fanned Robert Puason for the second out, Joshwan Wright came up and blooped a single into shallow center plating both Bautista and Richards to trim the Giants lead to 5-4. Wright, however, was thrown out at second on the play as he attempted to advance on the throw home.

After San Jose went down quietly in the top of the eighth, Helvey was summoned into pitch to start the bottom of the inning. Buelvas was up first for the Ports and he crushed an 0-2 pitch from Helvey over the fence in deep left center for a game-tying solo home run. Helvey's struggles then continued as Tyler Soderstrom drew a walk and Butler singled. A Bautista sacrifice bunt advanced the runners before Richards grounded a single up the middle to score two and give Stockton a 7-5 lead. Richards would later score the fourth run of the inning on a perfectly executed squeeze bunt play from Valenzuela to make it 8-5.

Down by three runs and down to their final three outs, the Giants, however, would rally. Alex Canario led off the top of the ninth with a towering 455-foot home run to right center to cut the Ports lead to 8-6. Layer then walked before Brett Auerbach lined a single into left center to put the potential tying run on base. Edison Mora was up next, but he struck out and then Glowenke popped out to bring Stockton to the brink of victory. Toribio then fell behind 0-2 in his at-bat, but with San Jose down to their final strike, he ripped a sharp grounder past the second baseman Wright and into right center. As the ball rolled towards the warning track, Layer and the speedy Auerbach both came home to score with Toribio sliding into second for the dramatic game-tying two-run double.

The rally then continued as Luis Matos was hit by a pitch before Luciano drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases. Schmitt was up next and he walked on five pitches to force home Toribio giving the Giants a 9-8 lead.

Helvey returned to the mound in the bottom of the ninth and made quick work of the Ports. He struck out Wright and Buelvas to start the inning and then retired Soderstrom on a groundout to shortstop to end the game.

GIANTS NOTES

Ninth-Inning Comeback

The Giants won for the second time this season when trailing after eight innings (May 23 at Fresno).

Series Review

The Giants won the final three games of the series against Stockton to take five of six from the Ports. With two more round-trippers on Sunday, San Jose hit 18 home runs during the six-game set. The Giants scored a total of 44 runs in the series (7.3 per game).

Hitting Standouts

Luis Toribio went 2-for-4 on Sunday with a solo home run and the clutch game-tying two-run double in the ninth to lead the way offensively. He's now hit safely in six consecutive games. Luis Matos (2-for-4, SB) and Brett Auerbach (2-for-2) also finished with multi-hit games. Alex Canario's (1-for-5, HR, RBI) home run was his fourth of the season. Canario finished the series with 11 hits in 25 at-bats (.440 AVG).

Tied For First

The Giants (24-12) are in a tie for first place with the Fresno Grizzlies (24-12) in the North Division standings. San Jose has won 13 out of their last 16 games.

On Deck

Following an off day, the Giants continue their road trip with a six-game series at Modesto. Tuesday's series opener against the Nuts is a 7:05 PM first pitch.

Check out the San Jose Giants Statistics

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